Since the mid-Sixties Doug
Parkinson has been regarded as one of Australia's finest
vocalists, a “singer's singer” who is one of the
truly great soul/R&B vocalists of our time. His deep, resonant,
smoky baritone voice is operatic in its power, yet possesses a range
and subtlety that few others can match. His sound is instantly
recognizable and unmistakable, yet his great versatility enables him to
be equally at home in almost every popular genre including soul,
R&B, pop, psychedelia, heavy rock, jazz, swing and musicals.
Added to his vocal prowess is an imposing stage presence (including his
trademark "Lucifer" beard) and a solid acting ability.

Doug has enjoyed a long and remarkably varied career in the Australian
music industry, although like many of his contemporaries it has to be
said that he has been woefully under-recorded. He is best remembered as
the frontman for a fine array
of top-notch groups from the mid-60s to the early ‘80s -- the
most memorable being the redoubtable Doug Parkinson In Focus.

Doug was born in Newcastle, NSW, in 1946 and grew up on
Sydney's northern beaches, where he attended Narrabeen Boys' High
School. He was an above-average student, at one stage winning a school
literature prize; he was elected as a prefect and (shades of John
Gorton) only missed out on being elected head prefect because he voted
for another candidate and lost by one vote-his own!

His family loved music-his parents were very fond of musicals
and this formed a continuing thread in Doug's career-and they gave Doug
his first guitar at the age of twelve. His first public performance was
at a school dance, where he performed a surf song. The young Doug was
an avid sportsman and represented his district in cricket, as well as
being a keen footballer and surfer. Among his surfing mates was future
champion Nat Young. The surfing came to an end after a brush with
death, when Doug was hit by a surfboard, knocked unconscious and almost
drowned. He was dragged from the water and resuscitated by a friend,
but spent the next six months bed-ridden as he recovered from his
injuries.

Doug matriculated in 1963 and after a few menial jobs, he was
taken on as a cadet journalist with the Daily Telegraph
in Sydney in 1964. He got to interview George Harrison during The
Beatles' Australian tour, which resulted in his first front-page story.
There is some disagreement between sources about the when Doug formed
his first band. According to Ian McFarlane, it was while he was still
at school, but it seems more likely that (as noted on Doug's website)
it was while he was a Telegraph cadet.

Doug's first group was Strings And Things,
with guitarist David Lee and brother and sister Syd and Helen Barnes,
the children of test cricketer Syd Barnes. The band later changed its
name to The A Sound. Notable as one of the few
Sydney groups of the period with a female instrumentalist in the
lineup, The A-Sound released just one single, "Talk About That"
/ "Tomorrow I Meet You", issued in early 1966 by Festival, before
they split up.

Above:
the serious young Strings and Things at the Royal Antler, Narrabeen,
1966 (L-R) David Lee, Doug, Helen Barnes

It was at this point, late in 1966, that Doug gave up his day
job and became a full-time singer, joining established
Sydney instrumental band The
Questions. All the members of The Questions (except original
drummer Bill Fleming) had previously worked in backing bands for singer
Roland Storm , and although not very
well remembered today, it was one of the seminal Sydney groups of the
mid-60s, featuring several players who would become prominent figures
in Australian music.

During Doug's tenure with the band the lineup included
guitarist Ray Burton (The
Executives, Innersense,
Friends, Ayers Rock, Crossfire), bassist,
engineer and producer Duncan McGuire (The Phantoms,
The Epics, King Harvest,
Friends, Ayers Rock,
Windchase) and guitarist Billy Green (King
Harvest, Fanny Adams,
Gerry and the
Joy Band, Friends). Some
members later linked up in various
combinations in the aforementioned bands -- McGuire and Green returned
to work with Doug at several later stages in his career, Ray
Burton contributed to Doug's 1973 solo album No Regrets, and
McGuire and
Burton reunited in the 70s in Ayers Rock, and .

The Questions had been formed as a Shadows-style instrumental
band, which was typical for groups of the early-mid Sixties. They
recorded one album for Festival (in the ‘Herb Albert' vein,
described by one critic as 'unreservedly awful')
and one single, Karelia / Wheels which came out in
October 1966. Although the members were musically competent
and already very experienced as live performers, The Questions was a
relatively undistinguished group and might well have remained so. But
Doug's arrival at the end of 1966 precipitated a major change of
musical direction. They went on to record a series of impressive
Singles that showcased Doug's outstanding vocal talents and which Ian
McFarlane describes as 'minor psychedelic pop
classics'. Their new lineup and style quickly took The
Questions into the first division of Australian
bands. Their debut single "Sally Go Round the Roses"
(backed by a cover of Donovan's "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)"
was a substantial hit in Sydney, reaching #14 in July 1967. It was
followed by "And Things Unsaid" / "I Can't Hear You"
(October) and a psych-pop interpretation of "Something Wonderful" (from
Rogers & Hammerstein's
The King And I)
(February 1968), plus the an EP Sally
Go
Round the Roses.

The Questions entered the 1967 Hoadley's Battle Of The
Sounds and eventually came in second behind The
Groop. They almost didn't make it into the
competition, because
they missed the deadline for entry into the Sydney heats, and had to
qualify via the Queensland country heats. However this
initial oversight had the beneficial side-effect of providing them with
their first interstate gigs. Their profile increased with a residency
at The Can disco in Sydney and they gained
invaluable national exposure with a support spot on the controversial
January 1968 Australian tour by
The Who and The Small Faces. Just before the tour, Green and
McGuire left, and they were replaced by Ray Burton and Les Young. The
solid performances by this short-lived lineup impressed audiences
around the country but The Questions disbanded the following month. In
March 1968 Parkinson, Green, McGuire and Thomas reunited and recruited
a new drummer, Doug Lavery (ex Running
Jumping Standing Still, Andy
James Asylum) and took a
new name that acknowledged the rapidly growing stature of their lead
singer -- Doug Parkinson In Focus.

The slew of Singles released by Doug Parkinson In Focus
warrants particular attention. The group (unfortunately) never made an
album, but, if gathered together with their unreleased tracks (such as
"Theme
From 12th House"), these tracks would form a pretty solid
album. Most have since been anthologised on the essential Raven
compilation Doug
Parkinson: In and Out of Focus.

The debut In Focus single "Advice" / "I Had
A Dream" (May 1968) didn't chart, although it set out their
stall in confident fashion, but the original lineup fell apart in
August 1968. Organist Rory Thomas left to join The
Affair and was not replaced; Doug Lavery departed to join The Valentines and was
replaced by Johnny Dick (ex- Aztecs,
Max
Merritt & the Meteors).

Above:
the famous 'Mark ' 1969 version of In Focus: (L-R) Johnny Dick, Doug Parkinson,
Billy Green (top), Duncan McGuire. This is the photo that was used on
the cover of the 1969 'Doug Parkinson In Focus' EP

In early 1969, a friend of Doug's in the UK sent him an
advance copy of The Beatles' stunning new self-titled double album (now
universally known as The White Album). They were
smitten and immediately recorded a superb cover of the classic John
Lennon song "Dear Prudence". Doug sent the tape to
Festival, hoping to have it released as the next single but,
incredibly, Festival turned it down. Stunned, Doug took the recording
to EMI, who loved it. A record deal was signed, and the single was
released on Columbia in May 1969. It shot up the charts all over the
country, earning rave reviews; it peaked at #5 in the Go-Set
national singles chart in early August and stayed on the chart for a
solid four months, becoming the biggest hit of Doug's career. It
was a brilliant showcase for Doug, enabling him to display both his
power and subtlety, and it also highlighted the tight, funky cohesion
of his band. The package was reinforced by its impressive flipside, the
Billy Green-composed "This Must Be The End".
It became one of the biggest selling Australian singles of 1969 -- no
mean feat in a
year that produced classics like "Smiley", "The Real Thing"
and Mr Guy Fawkes" and it remains a signature tune for
Doug ... not to mention being one of the best Beatles covers
ever recorded.

"Black
tie, white noise" - the Dear Prudence single launch
at Berties Disco, Melbourne, 1969.
Duncan McGuire and the horn players are obscured by the curtain at left.

In July, as "Dear Prudence" was heading up the charts,
the group again competed in the annual Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds.
In a nail-biting finish, Doug Parkinson In Focus was awarded equal
first place with competition underdogs The Masters Apprentices, and the
two bands shared the prize. The prize enabled the Masters to achieve
their long-held dream of going to England, but for In Focus the glory
was shortlived -- soon after the finals rumours began circulating that
their prize money had had been misappropriated by their management.

Left: the frantic scene at the Battle of the
Sounds as The Questions perform at the finals in August 1969 (Laurie
Richards Collection, National Film & Sound Archive)

The Hoadleys controversy was followed by another setback when
their next single, "Today (I Feel No Pain)" was
deemed uncommercial by EMI and was withdrawn soon after release.
Fortunately, the A-side -- remarkable for its driving, slightly
psychedelic backwards guitar effects -- reappeared later on the Dear
Prudence EP.

They bounced back with their next single, which showcased
Billy Green's brilliant pop writing skills, together with his
astounding, almost orchestral (and criminally overlooked) guitar
stylings on the power ballad (in the best senses of the term) "Without
You" (October) which provided them with a
second Top 5 hit. On its reverse side, this single featured Doug's
unique take on the title song from the notorious rock musical, Hair
which had recently premiered in Sydney in a blaze of publicity.

Once again on the crest of a wave, the group looked set for
continued success, but in November Green and McGuire abruptly split to
join the short-lived supergroup Rush
with former Wild Cherries
members Mal McGee and Kevin Murphy. Doug hastily recruited English
guitarist Mick Rogers (ex-Playboys, Procession) and veteran guitar ace
Les Stacpool and the new lineup premiered in December. By January 1970
Rush has folded and Billy Green returned in time for In Focus'
appearance at Australia's first rock festival, the Pilgrimage For Pop
at Ourimbah, NSW.

Duncan McGuire returned the next month, Stacpool and Rogers
departed and In Focus returned to its classic lineup. Their final
single was arguably also their supreme achievement, a fantastic 45
where it's hard to nominate an A or B side. "Baby Blue Eyes" /
"Then I Run" was also a remarkably dynamic recording, and was
one of the first stereophonic 7" singles recorded in this country. By
turns lush, dramatic, evocative, funky and just plain hard-rocking,
both of these Green-penned songs were shamefully neglected at the time,
and deserve retrospective scrutiny for the hallmarks that they
undoubtedly are. It performed moderately well, reaching #6 in May 1970,
but the next month Doug and Johnny were invited to come to England to
join a new band being put together by former Aztec Vince Melouney.

Duncan and Billy headed off to join Leo De Castro in King Harvest. Johnny and
Doug left for England where they completed Vince's new group (cheekily
named Fanny Adams)
with bassist Teddy Toi(bass, ex-Max Merritt and
the Meteors, The Aztecs, Little Sammy & The In-People) who had
been working as a session player in London at the time. The new group
returned to Australia in December 1970 amid a welter of hype, with
Doug boasting to Go-Set that "In three
weeks Fanny Adams will be the best band that ever trod this
earth". But they encountered resistance from a skeptical
public and their braggadocio apparently didn't translate into the
earth-shattering performances audiences were led to expect, with some
sources claiming that they were upstaged by their support bands.

Before leaving the UK they had availed themselves of Vince's
recent solo record deal with MCA to cut their self-titled debut album.
It contains some superb material and powerhouse performances and is
also long overdue for an official re-release. It gained a rave review
in the American Cashbox
magazine, which encouraged them to plan an
American visit, but the band fell apart before they could realize these
plans. This has conventionally been attributed to tensions within the
band, and there were four considerable egos at play there, but the
major catalyst for the demise of Fanny Adams seems to have been a
disastrous fire at Sydney's Caesar's Disco, which destroyed all their
equipment just after they arrived home; this was no doubt also a
factor that contributed to their reportedly underwhelming live
performances.

Whatever the precise reasons for the split, Doug quit Fanny
Adams in February 1971 (it was an acrimonious parting according to
McFarlane) leaving only their self-titled LP as a signpost of what
might have been. One excellent track from the LP, the scorching "Ain't
No Loving Left", is included on Raven's Golden Miles anthology and the
Fanny Adams album had a limited release on a German bootleg CD in 2001.

MCA were understandably unhappy about Fanny Adams' untimely
demise, which left them with an expensive album to sell and no band to
promote it, so they evidently enforced the conditions of the contract,
a decision which resulted in Doug being effectively banned from
recording for the next two years.

Doug reunited with Green and McGuire, plus ex- Spectrum and King Harvest drummer Mark
Kennedy to create a new version of In Focus. Despite Doug's contractual
hassles, they managed to cut one single for Fable, released in
September 1971. Although this is, sadly, the only known release by this
incarnation of the group, the stormingly heavy, wall-of-sound Billy
Green ‘ballad' "Purple Curtains" (backed with the alarming
riff-fest "Pour Out All You've Got") featured the supple, powerhouse
drumming of Kennedy, and distinctive contributions from the other band
members. This single, too, showcased Parkinson's mastery of the foghorn
bluesy vocal style he was famed for. Doug spent the next two
years trying to get his solo career off the ground although he was
hampered by the restrictions he faced from MCA/Fanny Adams episode. His
second son Daniel was born during the year and in August 1972 he issued
his first solo single on Polydor, "Lonely" / "Taking It Easy".

Solo in the Seventies

Songs from musicals have been a recurring feature of
Doug's recording career, and in the early ‘70s he began
appearing in some memorable stage musicals. i In March 1973, he made
his stage debut in the Australian concert production of The Who's rock
opera Tommy
alongside Billy Thorpe, Daryl Braithwaite, Colleen Hewett, Broderick
Smith, Jim Keays and Keith Moon. This was followed by a stint in the
acclaimed Harry M. Miller/Jim Sharman production of Jesus Christ Superstar
iwhere he replaced Reg
Livermore, providing some unlikely “comic
relief” in the cameo role of Herod.

In 1973 Doug gathered an all-star session band to
record his first solo LP, the aptly-titled No Regrets,
released in May on Polydor. The studio line-up was led by keyboard
player John Capek (piano; ex-Carson)
with Graham Morgan, Peter Figures and Russell Dunlop (drums), Tim
Partridge (bass), guitarists Kevin Borich, Billy Green, Ross East and
Jimmy Doyle, Roger Sellers (percussion), Don Reid (flute, sax) and
Terry Hannagan (vocals). Capek co-wrote five tracks, two with Doug
himself and three with Terry Hannagan; Doug contributed his first solo
composition, the opening track, And Things Unsaid,
and the album also featured a new version of "Dear Prudence",
plus Ray Burton's "Love Gun", Kevin Borich's "Sweet Rock
& Roll" and a cover of The Doors' "Light My
Fire". The album was re-released in 1980 as part of Polydor's
budget priced ‘Rock Legends' series.

Also that year, Doug made an interesting digression
with his next band Doug Parkinson's Life Organisation
which played 1940s big band jazz -- pre-dating the more 80s vogue for
this style with bands like Ignatius Jones' Pardon Me Boys. The line-up
included his old mate Teddy Toi, with Graham Morgan, Peter Martin
(guitar; ex-SCRA), Warren
Ford (guitar, piano), Bill Motzing (trombone, keyboards) and, briefly,
the mercurial Wendy Saddington
(vocals). The Life Organisation released two singles, the first being a
cover of the Glenn Miller standard "In the Mood" (Forties Style) b/w
"Beyond
the Blue Horizon" (June 1973) which surprisingly reached #36
in Sydney. The second single, "Boogie Woogie" / "Little Brown Jug"
(November) did not repeat this success. Life Organisation also backed
Parkinson on his second solo single (lifted from No Regrets),
"Love Gun" / "Dear Prudence" (April 1973).

In 1974 Doug joined the recently formed WEA Records as NSW
Promotions Manager, determined to learn the business from the other
side and find out for himself the complexities of music marketing. He
fared well in this new role and was eventually promoted to A&R
Manager. During the year Doug also performed the memorable vocals on
two Billy Green songs, "Cosmic Flash" and "Do
Not Go Gentle" (a musical setting of the Dylan Thomas poem,
and a song dating back to the In Focus days. These were Billy Green
recorded for the film soundtrack to Sandy Harbutt's cult Oz biker film Stone.
The recent
documentary Stone Forever is well worth tracking
down for the archival footage of Doug and Billy recording the number in
the studio. Later in the year Doug put together a new touring band
comprising Mick Liber (guitar; ex-Python
Lee Jackson), Ray Vanderby (keyboards), Rod Coe (bass, ex Freshwater) and the late,
great Bruno Lawrence (drums, ex-Max Merritt and the Meteors, BLERTA).
Bruno of course later earned acclaim as an actor in films including The
Quiet Earth, The
Delinquents and the
classic ABC current affairs satire Frontline.

In November 1974 Doug finally scored his first major
solo hit with a cover of the Love Affair perennial "Everlasting
Love" which had also been an Aussie hit for The
Town Criers in 1968;
Doug's version was recorded with the permission of WEA, and Doug was
backed by some of his old mates, now working as Ayers
Rock i. The single peaked at #22 in Sydney and #14 in
Melbourne in March 1975. He released two further singles in 1975, a
cover of Vanda and Young's "Love is Like a Cloudy Day",
released on Atlantic in May, and "Raised on Rock"
(September), which came out on Robie Porter's Wizard label, but
neither record charted.

It was also during this period that Doug established
a lucrative sideline belting out advertising jingles, station ID's and
TV themes. Doug recorded one of the original Double Jay station
IDs in 1975. During the year he was involved in a media storm over two
political commercials he sang on-one was a jingle for the South
Australian Liberal Party and soon after another for the federal Labor
Party. A similar controversy arose around the same time when
Renée Geyer performed a jingle for the federal Liberal
Party. Doug couldn't see a problem with it then and he still
can't now- that's just my gig", he says -- but like Renee, Doug was
perhaps unaware of the deep
feelings aroused by such political scene of the time and was unprepared
for the negative reactions that were generated when -- as in the case
of
Geyer -- people mistook the performance for some kind of endorsement.

In 1976 Doug appeared in the stage musical Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. During 1977 he toured
with a
backing which comprised a re-formed version of Sanctuary (aka The
Renée Geyer Band) and which included keyboard player Mal
Logan and the late great Barry "Big Goose" Sullivan.

In 1978, Doug appeared in the stage production of a
new Australian musical Ned Kelly written by Reg Livermore
and Patrick Flynn. It received a mixed reception -- it was highly
praised
by some reviewers at the time but savaged by others (including critic
Shirley Stot Despoya, mother of Natasha).

In early 1978, Doug began one of the most successful
phases of his rock career when he formed his acclaimed new backing
group The Southern Star Band. Back in the fold were
his old friends Duncan McGuire and Mark Kennedy, plus Frank Esler-Smith
(keyboards; ex-Marcia Hines Band) and Englishman Jim Gannon (guitar; ex-Black Widow,
Yellow Dog, Fox). Gannon was later replaced by a young prodigy who went
on to become one of Australia's best known guitarists: Tommy
Emmanuel.

Regarded as one of the hottest ensembles of its day,
the Southern Star Band played a smooth but powerful blend of soul,
funk, jazz-rock and R&B, and with so much talent involved it's
hard to explain why this group failed to fully connect with the general
public, other than to point the finger at radio for its continuing lack
of interest in local talent. Keith Kirwin (guitar, bass, vocals;
ex-Avengers) joined in September 1979and during their four-year
lifespan the band released four excellent singles -- "The Hungry Years"
(July 1978), the superb "I'll Be Around" (January
1979), "In My Life" (April) and "You Ain't
Going Nowhere Without Me" (September).

"I'll Be Around" charted nationally
(#22 in March) and remains a favourite track for many Parko fans. Their
Festival album, also called I'll
Be Around, was a steady
seller and received good airplay (especially on Double Jay) but it
didn't manage to crack the Top 40 album charts. During the year the
band supported Bob Marley & The Wailers on their Australian
tour.

The Eighties

During 1980, Doug continued touring, and
issued two solo singles: "Arcade" (the theme to an
abortive television serial of the same name) and "Under the
Influence of Love" through Festival. He also scored his first
TV role in the hospital soapie The
Young Doctors.
In 1981 he signed to CBS Records. By this time The Southern Star Band
had broken up so Doug formed a new Doug Parkinson Band in March, which
comprised Dave Richard (guitar), Tim Piper (guitar; ex-Chain, Blackfeather), George
Limbidis (bass; ex-Highway)
and Adrian Payne (drums; ex-Pantha,
Broderick Smith's Hired Hands).

In March '83 Doug released his second solo
album (on CBS)
Heartbeat
to Heartbeat, and late in the year he took the starring
role
of Judas in the revived stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
The
production toured Australia for twelve months to great acclaim, before
final performances in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Doug's distinctive voice kept him in strong
demand for advertising work and he recorded jingles for Coke (winning
an international award for Best Commercial), BHP, Toyota, Carlton
United Breweries, Sanyo, Philips and many other companies. His voice
could also be heard on station IDs and promotional jingles for radio
stations 2SM, 3AK, 3UZ, 5AD, 4MMM, 6PM and the for the 0-10 television
network.

Doug's only single that year was "Sailing"
(December '84). During 1985 he continued his acting career with
appearances in the telemovies The
Body Business, Butterfly
Island and Watch
The Shadows Dance and in 1986 he began what became a
two-year
stint with the musical revue Soul
Man, a salute to
the great black performers of the modern era, which premiered at
Sydney's Kinsellas. The success of the show enabled Doug to finally buy
his long desired beach house at Collaroy. He also supported The Pointer
Sisters on their national tour. According to Doug's website, it was ten
days into the tour before the Pointers even spoke to him but he soon
won them over and after the tour he was welcomed as a guest to their
homes in L.A.

While on the road in 1987 Doug co-wrote the
score for the surfing film Wind
Warriors as well as
the theme song for the Nine Network TV series Willing And Able,
released as a single in May. Sadly, the gradual waning of the live
music scene in Australia meant that Doug's heyday as a concert
performer was passing, but he was only just hitting his stride as a
theatrical performer. Over the next decade he concentrated of musical
theatre, became one of the most popular, in-demand and consistently
satisfying performers in Australian musical theatre.

1988 was a hectic year. Doug starred in
successful Kinsellas production The Motown Story.
At the World Expo '88 in Brisbane he returned to the music style he had
performed in the Life Organisation days, producing and starring in
Destination
Moon, a tribute to the big band era. He also performed at the
Fosters Grand Prix ball in Adelaide, supported Randy Crawford on her
Australian tour and in December performed a return season of Soul
Man at Sydney's Hilton Hotel.

In 1989 Doug won the central role of Pap
Finn in the Gordon Frost musical Big
River (Roger
Miller's musical adaptation of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn),
with
Drew Forsythe, John Bell, Cameron Daddo, Michael Edward-Stevens and
former Young Talent Team member Karen Knowles. It was a major box
office success, running for almost eighteen months, and Doug featured
on the Australian cast recording.

The Nineties and beyond
...

In the Nineties, Doug's career was dominated
by stage shows and related tours. In late 1990 Doug appeared as "The
Barrister" in a Sydney stage production of Mike Batt's musical
adaptation of Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.
Batt had come to Australia to perform some concerts in January at the
Melbourne Music Festival, including The Hunting of the Snark
and
other compositions. This led to an invitation to present the show in
Sydney, and it had its world premiere here in October for a sold-out
two week season at the State Theatre with The Elizabethan Theatre
Orchestra and an all-star cast including Doug, Phillip Quast, Jackie
Love, Daryl Somers and Cameron Daddo.

For most of 1990-93 Doug played the plum
role of "The Big Bopper" in the hit musical Buddy,
with his rendition of "Chantilly Lace" being the
showstopper every night. In 1994 Doug capitalized on the success of
Buddy, producing, directing and starring 'The Original Stars Of Buddy
In Concert'. It was another major success and toured consistently
through capital cities and major regional centres for the next three
years, including a successful 1996 tour through New South Wales,
Queensland and Victoria. Later that year he put together a new
ten-piece band and performed several sold out shows in Sydney.

In 1997 Raven released a long-overdue career
retrospective, Doug Parkinson In and Out of Focus,
compiled and annotated by Glenn A. Baker. 1998 was another
hugely successful
year, with Doug playing the role of Vince Fontaine in Grease:
The Arena Mega Musical. It did record-breaking box office
business, with seventy shows in entertainment centres right across
Australia & NZ, playing to well over half a million people. In
1999 Doug appeared in another 50s-themed musical, this time appearing
as Al Delvecchio in the musical Happy
Days.
Although the show was not as great a success as some of his previous
stage ventures, Doug still stopped the show each night with
his
masterful rendition of "Unchained Melody".

2001-2002 was again dominated by
theatre work. 2001 saw Doug taking the role of The Cowardly Lion in the
highly successful SEL/GFO production of The Wizard Of Oz,
with Nikki Webster, Bert Newton, Philip Gould and Pamela Rabe. In June
he was named ‘Classic Rock Performer Of The Year' at the 26th
annual Mo Awards. Later in the year Doug took time out for a career
first, performing with his colleague in soul, the great Max Merritt, on a short club
tour of the eastern states. Incredibly, despite the many connections
between them, this was the first time these two legends had shared a
stage and this unique and historic event was rapturously received by
audiences.

In mid-2002 Doug took home his
second gong as ‘Classic Rock Performer Of The Year' at the
27th annual Mo Awards and a few months later he took part in the
acclaimed 'Long Way To the Top' concert tour and in early 2003 he was
part of the LWTTT regional tour. A new Greatest
Hits album is in the pipeline and Doug is also reported to
be
working on his autobiography, as well as writing a stage play.

Today, Doug still sounds
every bit as good as in his ‘60s heyday, still commands the
highest respect from colleagues and his fans, and he can still hold an
audience like few other performers. A peerless vocalist and an
undisputed master of the soul/R&B idiom, Doug's talents have
too often been underrated and overlooked by the local recording
industry, which has treated so many fine performers so poorly. Happily
though, Doug has always managed to add new facets to his ever-changing
career.

As his website aptly puts
it, Doug's career has included “a great deal of success and
some
failures, lots of joy and many tears, plenty of passion punctuated with
regular doses of pain”. Throughout, Doug Parkinson has
distinguished himself as a great performer and a consummate
professional, one of the true legends of the Australian music scene.

Original article by
Paul Culnane. Revised 2004, 2007.

Discography

Singles
(1966 to 1975)

The A
Sound

1966
"Talk About That" / "Tomorrow I Meet You" (Festival FK-1340) "Tomorrow I Meet You"
was anthologised on the
Festival compilation So You Want To Be A Rock 'n'
Roll Star.